[Raggie]

slaz.. push them on the tracker.. my dealer (coopers TW..) droped their price on a an install on the tracker to within £30 of the direct cost I would have got direct with tracker.

Bonus is that it's already done when I pick up the car (yes still waiting..lol) and I am told BMW have a deal with tracker which gets you a 3 yr warantee on the product..

maybe worth diggin on your side.

[Slaz]

Thanks for that Raggie - will go back and see if they will match the price from my friendly independent car electronics installer, although I doubt it!

I was debating the merits of Tracker last night with my GF and she thinks that if the car was ever stolen that they are likely to trash it/thrash it a bit anyway, so why would you want it back. My answer was that many desirable cars like new BMWs are stolen to order, hence the crims would try and keep it in good nick! The reality is you can't predict what would happen.

Now investigating one of those collapsible security posts to block the car in on the drive when we are both away on holiday etc.. Sadly I don't have a garage for it (well not one that would fit it in!)

Anyway, I'm going off topic...

Vines of Guildford are good in my experience.

Wood in Hampshire (Odiham) are to be avoided. Had a bad experience with one of their barrow-boy style sales people (who shall remain nameless). I had enquired about whether he could match the coast 2 coast price I was quoted and after much tooing and fro-ing and the usual "I wouldn't normally do this but seeing as its you..." he said they could. I said thanks and that I would think it over and get back to him if I wanted to proceed. In the meantime Vines gave me an even better discount and I placed my order with them.

On being called back by him and informing said salesman that I wouldn't be placing the order with him he went ballistic and said that I'd lied to him, that he'd been shafted, that he'd really gone out on a limb with his boss etc... He repeatedly called me a liar and then hung up on me!:mad:

Totally unprofessional. I work in business development and in my job if a customer takes his business elsewhere then its okay to say you're disappointed but the important thing is to close on good terms and keep the door open for him to come back to you later on. Behaving like a spoilt brat only shoots yourself in the foot.

As a result no-one in my family or circle of friends will go near Wood again. My brother may be in the market for a new M3 next year but Wood are definitely off his list!

[booforty]

Originally Posted by Slaz

I was debating the merits of Tracker last night with my GF and she thinks that if the car was ever stolen that they are likely to trash it/thrash it a bit anyway, so why would you want it back. My answer was that many desirable cars like new BMWs are stolen to order, hence the crims would try and keep it in good nick! The reality is you can't predict what would happen.

Slaz, I agree with you. A £30k+ BMW is stolen to order by professionals. Its far too valuable to trash - if they want a joyride they steal a cheap car thats far easier to break into and drive away without the keys.

[Raggie]

beauforty.. only issue I have. No Tracker = No Insurance..

Short and curleys.. or what.. lol

[gordonrp]

Originally Posted by Slaz

Vines in Guildford have been great with me so far. Gemma is the salesperson I've had and she's been delightful in terms of responding to queries and sorting out loan cars to test drive for the whole day (wanted to test out whether I wanted Sports Suspension or not).

Most importantly they matched what Coast 2 Coast were offering against the 330d coupe almost without flinching, so got nearly 7% off the list price when I ordered (28th Dec).

I've cancelled my Tracker install from them, as I can get it done more cheaply independently, and made a few other changes all without any stress.

Mind you - haven't got the car yet, so we'll see what they're like after having taken my money!

Guildford was good for sales..

Just visited, test drove, and purchased this past Sunday within 2 hours at vines of guildford.

I have yet to find out what ther servicing / warranty claims are like tho.

[booforty]

Originally Posted by Raggie

beauforty.. only issue I have. No Tracker = No Insurance..

Short and curleys.. or what.. lol

Funny, same for me!!!

[Slaz]

That's really interesting about your insurance. i went with Privelege who didn't enquire about Tracker at all, in fact when I mentioned it to them they couldn't have appeared less interested and offered me no discount.

The quote they gave me was £300 more competitive than the nearest one, so I wasn't going to argue. Still want the Tracker for peace of mind though.

[NFS]

Originally Posted by Slaz

That's really interesting about your insurance. i went with Privelege who didn't enquire about Tracker at all, in fact when I mentioned it to them they couldn't have appeared less interested and offered me no discount.

The quote they gave me was £300 more competitive than the nearest one, so I wasn't going to argue. Still want the Tracker for peace of mind though.

My insurance is subject to a blanket rule. All cars valued over £30k must have a tracker.

It's a business policy via Aon.

[Raggie]

mines a business policy too.. I wonder if there is a connection..

[ZiM]

i have business class insurance with BMW, no mention of a tracker at all and cheaper than any of the competitors... thoroughly recommend them

[Raggie]

well so much for my theories.. lol..

BMW were £1600 odd for me.. and my brooker (via confused) has me at £650 ish..

funny how you have to fall into the catagory the insurance company wants .. or other wise the premium is

[booforty]

Originally Posted by ZiM

i have business class insurance with BMW

Si, does this mean you have a slightly wider policy and more leg room?

[NFS]

Originally Posted by beauforty

Si, does this mean you have a slightly wider policy and more leg room?

I think it means that his insurers provide free champagne and lemon scented napkins at the crash scene.

[booforty]

Originally Posted by needforspeed

I think it means that his insurers provide free champagne and lemon scented napkins at the crash scene.

Wow, so BMW accidents really are posh....

[Rochester BMW]

Originally Posted by ZiM

i also was expecting not to recieve the warmest of welcomes when ordering my 335d (same age as you, 24) but i was pleasantly suprised with Knights BMW in Stafford... my only quibble is that once they've got the sale, they're not massively bothered returning your calls etc. anymore...

i thought i was doing alright for my age, but going for a new M!!!, kudos that man!

ZiM did i mention that i live in a cardboard box next to my car!

[xrrr]

Originally Posted by Slaz

Vines of Guildford are good in my experience.

Wood in Hampshire (Odiham) are to be avoided. Had a bad experience with one of their barrow-boy style sales people (who shall remain nameless). I had enquired about whether he could match the coast 2 coast price I was quoted and after much tooing and fro-ing and the usual "I wouldn't normally do this but seeing as its you..." he said they could. I said thanks and that I would think it over and get back to him if I wanted to proceed. In the meantime Vines gave me an even better discount and I placed my order with them.

On being called back by him and informing said salesman that I wouldn't be placing the order with him he went ballistic and said that I'd lied to him, that he'd been shafted, that he'd really gone out on a limb with his boss etc... He repeatedly called me a liar and then hung up on me!:mad:

Totally unprofessional. I work in business development and in my job if a customer takes his business elsewhere then its okay to say you're disappointed but the important thing is to close on good terms and keep the door open for him to come back to you later on. Behaving like a spoilt brat only shoots yourself in the foot.

I bought my current car used from Wood in Odiham. I had an ok time with them, the sales guy seemed ok. I spent 2 hours negotiating the price, even to the point that they got their computer out and showed me how much they paid for it - I was still not convinced I was not been conned but it was 19:00 on a Friday! In the test drive I had noticed a few marks on the interior (pen and fizzy drink on the seat) so I asked them to clean it off - which they did not. It is the small things that niggle!

Anyway, I bought by previous car new from Barons in Farnborough. Good sales, excellent after care. In fact, even though I live in Guildford I prefer Barons to Vines. Our company has an office in Farnborough so I can get Barons to collect from work which is handy.

I plan to purchase an E92 of some description in the next 6 months or so and I will be giving Barons a go (I have a test drive booked with them in a few weeks) and obviously looking at Vines of Guildford.

BTW, Vines are a great place to go for a test drive as you can turn right out of Slyfield and get some really good runs in. DO NOT test drive a car in Walton on Thames (Walton Audi) as I spend 30 mins in a traffic jam and did not get over 35 mph!

[mjh93sa]

So far I've been very happy with sales and service from Cotswold, both Cheltenham and Gloucester.

Parking in Cheltenham is a b1tch so I always go to Gloucester, but they are spending £££ to move the bodyshop out to their PDI/storage centre which should improve things.

We'll see how good they are this year... might be a couple of cars in it for them if they behave

[mgarvey]

I've bought two BMW's from Wood in Odiham and had a fairly decent experience - though with the same salesman both times. They were willing to do a deal, albeit with a fair bit of pushing from me and lots of research. I suspect they could've moved more on the price than they did, but that's the game I suppose.

In particular, with my first car, I had to change my order fairly late in the process, as my wife had written off her car and by the time I'd got her a new one I'd spent some of my budget. I changed my order from an E46 Vert to an E46 Coupe and didn't get any quibbles, nor lose my deposit.

The dealer also arranged with my wife to get a personal plate put on the car, as her wedding gift to me. He even went as far to to go through the rigmarole of offering me a standard plate so I could insure it (with my wife dealing secretly with the insurance company too so they sent me a bogus cover note for the reg I thought I was getting).

My only niggle really, which I've also had with other BMW dealers, is the slightly arrogant stance - particularly with test drives. When asked for a test drive with the engine and gearbox I was planning to buy, they just couldn't or wouldn't do it, taking the line of 'place a deposit and we'll get one in for you to test later'. Wrong way around guys!

[silverbmwz3]

Very good experience across 3 cars with Stratstone Tring (Buckinghamshire). Just ordered latest there today.

[rjs]

Originally Posted by rjs

<rant>

What is everyone's opinion on their dealer? So far I'm not blown away by the service levels i've encountered.

I've been looking at buying an e92 for a while now and am currently on my 3rd dealer.

Dealer 1 (Solihull) They started OK, I managed to arrange a short test drive with them & all seemed well. Decided to wait for the M-Sport package though which they told me would be coming out in March. So I advised them to contact me when they heard anything re: the M-Sport. March is almost here, so is the M-Sport. My phone call from the dealer isn't.

Dealer 2 (Wolverhampton) Oh dear. I went in to enquire & they said they would have to get a car in for test drive, fair enough. I asked for a brochure but they didn't have one so they took my name and address to send me one. Two months later... no brochure! No follow up. :mad:

Dealer 3 (Central B'ham) Promising so far. I went in last week, got test drive booked for this week so will see how it goes.

I don't like poor customer service full stop. Even more so when they expect me give them 40K for a car. If the service is this crap before i've even bought it, what's it going to be like afterwards?!

Is it just me? does everyone else get on fine?

I hope this third one is OK, i'm running out of ones nearby!

</rant>

Well, I've eventually managed to order my car, no thanks to the dealers. Further to my earlier post, Dealer 3 started off well but when I asked for a test drive in a 335i, it all started to go wrong. It's been something like 6 weeks since I first asked. No test drive yet & the customer service has been shocking!
e.g. Dealer rings Thursday & says he can get test drive for Friday prob, is that OK? I say yes so he says he'll ring back either Thurs eve or early Fri am to conf. I clear a meeting on Fri to prepare but guess what, no phone call, no response to email, nothing at all till next tues! Apalling.

I therefore opened a new line of enquiry with Dealer 4 (Warwick) managed a short test drive in an E90 335i (Which I can only assume was another customer's awaiting delivery) The chap there was going to ring me a week later as he was off for a few days, but for whatever reason, decided not to bother.

I'd heard from Dealer 3 that Dealer 2 had a 335i, so gave them a ring. I was put on to a nice lady there who managed to arrange a 6hr test drive in a couple of working days. Not only that, she managed to get me one with a 2 month wait, depspite the fact that the garage man said it would be 5 months. Order was placed that day.

Now, she'd only just started there so maybe she hadn't yet been on the BMW sponsored Arrogance course, or the "How not to bother contacting customers who want to buy a car" course that all other dealers have been on yet.

I have eventually ordered my car, but after the effort it took to get one, I remain fearful of what the after service will be like to be honest.

[Z4 Beemer]

You should contact BMW customer services about this. BMW have quite strict rules and procedures that dealers need to follow and they _should_ be interested in what you are saying.

[- Paul -]

Sorry to hear about your experience. I was a new customer to BMW when I walked in but had good service. The sales guy who I have dealt with ever since has been more than accomodating in my requests. It really does seem you're in the lap of the gods when walking into a dealership.